


You Have Left Me Nowhere To Go

by ABitchDoesNotADomMake



Series: Skye's iPod [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 14:30:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4063429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABitchDoesNotADomMake/pseuds/ABitchDoesNotADomMake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lincoln explains a few things to Skye.  Skye returns the favor. (flashback)<br/>Riding shotgun down the avalanche - Shawn Colvin</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Have Left Me Nowhere To Go

**Author's Note:**

> Second short in the Skye's iPod series.  
> 

“Most of us here don’t have a lot of electronics, really. So you having an iPod is a little unusual. I have stuff, but I don’t bring it here.” Lincoln looked at Skye, trying not to look or sound as though he were correcting her. He had already figured out that she didn’t take well to anything that sounded like a criticism.  
“I have already accepted that there is no Wi-Fi here, or a way to communicate with my team. I am NOT giving up my music too.” She stared right at him, knowing it made him uncomfortable, but not caring much. “And if it suddenly starts having electrical issues, well… “she let the rest of what she could have said fade off into the space between them.  
Lincoln looks at Skye, shocked. “I would never use my gift in such a way, you must know that. None of us would.” Skye lifts her eyebrow, looking dubious. “Skye, I could never… I mean, you have to understand… I am here for you.”  
Skye leaned against the pillar that marked the entrance to the garden they were in. She turned her iPod over and over in her hands, the cord slowly twisting her earbuds where they lay around her neck. The touchscreen would flash as the sunlight hit it, and then the blue (like his eyes), and then the flash of sun again, seemingly capturing her attention. The faint sounds of the song she had been listening to (on repeat) float up to circle around the two of them. Lincoln decides on a new approach, feeling like he is the one missing something here.  
“What are you listening to?” he asks, trying to sound casual. Skye pulls the earbuds from around her neck and passes them over to him. … But I will raise up my voice into the void  
You have left me nowhere to go… He hands back the earbuds. “I don’t think I know that song. It sounds pretty sad.”  
“It isn’t that sad, actually. It’s romantic and lost at the same time, but I think it is more hopeful than sad. Shawn Colvin. It’s from the late 80’s. I had a foster mother once who was really into her, a serious Lilith Fair kind of woman.”  
“So why this song? Is it the work you were doing with Jiaying? I heard about the avalanche. We all did. She was very proud of you, you know. I didn’t do anything that strong for a long time.” He was trying to get her to open up to him, she could tell. Not very smoothly. Skye was not sure she wanted to open up very much to anyone here, even her parents. She was uncomfortable with the idea of not being able to come and go, with the idea of not being able to contact the team… uncomfortable with the idea of how much she missed Coulson. But she was also not very comfortable with the way Lincoln was always THERE, always ready to talk to her, to look at her in that weirdly possessive way he had from the first moment she met him.  
“Partly” she says, cautiously. “That’s why I turned it on at first, anyway. Then I just kept on… Yeah. Well. I like the song.” Skye realized she was saying more than she intended. She was falling out of practice on a lot of things. Like not thinking about certain people. Lincoln looks at her sadly, understanding coming over him.  
“There is someone you miss, isn’t there? A guy?” She doesn’t look at him, instead looking out toward the mountain, trying to see from here where the avalanche started. She wished she could show Coulson what she had done, or tell him about it at least. The idea of Coulson being a guy was really funny, but there was no way in hell she was going to let that out, not to Lincoln, or to anyone in Afterlife, really. Once she left, once she was under control, maybe she would tell Gemma about it. Or maybe not.  
Lincoln stood uncomfortably in the silence, trying to think of something to say, some way to make Skye understand what she had here. “Did you know that among our people, the women choose their mates?” She turned to him at that, her eyes wide in surprise.  
“They just pick someone? Anyone? Doesn’t the someone have a choice?” She looked appalled more than anything.  
“Well, no not just anyone, of course. Someone from a group of genetically appropriate candidates. But the men are all honored to be among the chosen.” He explained, as if it made all the sense in the world.  
“So it is really just a breeding program? Wow. No thank you. I would much rather be with someone I loved, who loved me, without having it reduced down to genetic compatibility. I’ll pass.”  
“You don’t think love could be involved? I mean, you are pretty amazing, Skye, and those of us selected for you would be pretty lucky, in my opinion. I mean, I know that I…”  
“Stop. Stop right there. You mean there is already a list going FOR ME? Because that is not going to happen. Ever. No way. I’ve been here, what? A week? A little longer? And I’ve already been genetically matched with people? Who the hell’s idea was that?” Lincoln could see the anger flashing in her eyes. To her credit, the ground wasn’t moving at all, although some of the branches nearby were moving too fast to be accounted for by the light breeze.  
“Your mother’s.” he said quietly. “It is how things are done here, Skye. And you get a choice. It’s not like anyone is going to make you choose one particular person. I was hoping…” his voice trailed off.  
“Hoping?” Skye pushed.  
“Hoping you might choose me.” Lincoln closed his eyes and looked away. This was NOT how he had hoped to have this conversation at all.  
“You’re on my list?” Skye asked, the anger simmered down in her voice. “Who else?”  
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t know until you chose. At the ceremony, I mean. I guess that the men who are selected are told, I mean, I was… But I was told not to talk about it. To anyone.”  
“Including me?”  
“Yes.”  
“Lincoln… you need to know something. I am not trying to hurt you, or disrespect your traditions, but there is no way that I will choose a mate here. I left someone behind who I care for very much. I love him, and the thought of being with anyone else, well, I just can’t even consider it. I would say that I was sorry, but I’m not. He is the reason I came here to learn to control this gift. I don’t want to ever put him in danger from me.”  
“Skye…”  
“I need to go and speak with Jiaying. Thank you for telling me, Lincoln.” Skye turned and passed back through the pillars, heading for her mother’s office.

 

I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche  
Tumbling and falling down the avalanche  
So be quiet tonight the stars, shine bright  
on this mountain of new fallen snow  
But I will raise up my voice into, the void  
you have left me nowhere to go  
I love you so much and it's so bizarre  
a mystery that goes on and on and on  
this is the best thing and the very most hard  
Oh, and we don't get along  
After countless appeals we keep spinning our wheels  
on this mountain of new fallen snow  
so I let go the catch and we are over the edge  
you have left me nowhere to go  
I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche  
Sometimes you make me lose my will to live  
and just become a beacon for your soul  
but the past is stronger than my will to forgive  
Forgive you or myself, I don't know  
I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche  
Tumbling and falling down the avalanche  
So be quiet tonight, be sure to step lightly  
on this mountain of new fallen snow  
But I will raise up my voice into the void  
you have left me nowhere to go  
I'm riding shotgun down the avalanche


End file.
